Touring with Janice & Jacquie

I spent the night at Jacquie's place near Miloli'i. She lives in a cabin on a property near the Kipahoehoe Natural Area Reaserve. The vegetation is very thick & the driveway has been landscaped with anthuriums. We woke up bright & early this morning; I made breakfast using the dinner leftovers & eggs.

Jacquie at the front of the cabin.

L to R: Jacquie & Janice next to the angel's trumpet (Brugmansia sp.).

Some of the anthuriums along the driveway.

We needed to take care of a couple of things around Kona, then we headed for Waimea where we dropped off Jacquie's car. It was a beautiful day so we went through the Kohala Mountains. We stopped at one of the scenic viewpoints, it turned out it had a great view of Kawaihae and the Kona coast.

Kawaihae Harbor straight ahead, Kona coast to the left.

We headed to Hawi to have lunch at the Sweet Potato Kitchen. Jacquie had the Carrot & Ginger Soup special, Janice had the Bounti Burger Classic without the bun, and I had the Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Bread "sandwich"; which was actually more of an open faced sandwich since the sweet potato bread could not be cut thin enough to use as a regular sandwich bread. (They were out of chocolate chip banana bread so asked if they could substitute with the sweet potato bread.) It was all good, but mine was more like a dessert than a lunch meal!

L to R: Carrot & Ginger Soup, Bounti Burger Classic (sans bun).

Homemade Puanut Butter & Mashed Banana on Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Bread.

L to R: me, Jacquie, & Janice. (selfie by Janice)

I dropped Janice & Jacquie off at the trailhead for Pololu Valley and they spent about an hour in the valley. They were both re-energized and grounded when I went to pick them up after their trek.

Janice at Pololu Beach. (Photo by Jacquie)

A gleeful Janice at Pololu Beach. (Photo by Jacquie)

Jacquie playing at the edge of the surf at Pololu Beach. (Photo by Janice)

They felt like burgers so I was going to take them to the Kohala Village HUB Pub, but they were closed! So I headed for Bamboo Restaurant, but there were also closed! I was surprised that Hawi was more deserted than Kapa'au tonight. But after thinking about it, we decided perhaps Hawi stayed open during the weekend for the tourists who probably left the area on Sunday to head back to their obs on Monday, so Monday was a good day to close up. We went back to Minnie's in Kapa'au. (Our other choices there were the King's View Cafe and L & L Barbecue which were both still open.) We all had some variation of the Hamburger Steak Plate. (Which I forgot to take a photo of. Auwe!)

Janice & Jacquie are sleeping over tonight. It's less stressful than trying to get them back to Waimea, then them having a 1 & 1/2 hour drive back to Jacquie's place after hiking.

Yesterday, when I walked in to the hallway, I saw the sunshine streaming in on the kitchen floor. Since Chris removed the garage roof, it has given me a glimpse of what it will be like when he replaces the opaque white roofing material with clear material.

The white material will be replaced with clear material that will let the sun shine in.

I left a little early to pick Janice up at the airport yesterday since I needed to make a stop in Waimea. After I was done with that errand I still had 30 minutes to spare so I decided to check out the Kekaha Kai State Park that is near the airport. As I headed down the road it quickly turned from a paved road to a rough road carved out of the raw lava. But I made it down to the beach. There is a nice parking lot and bathroom facility; they are in the process of building a couple new barbecue areas. It is worth the drive down the rough road, but allow extra time so you can take it easy getting there.

Heading out to Kekaha Kai State Park.

Heading back to the highway, the Kona Airport tower is in the background just right of the center of the photo.

After picking Janice up at the airport, we headed down to Jacquie's place; Janice had been up early to catch her 2 flights so she needed rest more than sightseeing. We made a quick stop at the Pure Kona Green farmers market in Captain Cook; its right next to the Amy Greenwell Botanical Garden.

Janice next to sugar cane; Amy Greenwall Botanical Garden is in the background.

Once we got to the cabin, we moved our things in & waited for Jacquie to return from the Costco run. The cabin has electricity via solar panels with a generator backup. The refrigerator is run on propane (but was having issues) and the heat is via wood stove. Water is rainwater collected from the rooftop and stored in a cistern.

Looking northerly out the cabin windows at the surrounding forest.

Cistern for rainwater catchment.